The invention relates to a method for effectively repelling biting insects from the skins or hides of animals by orally administering to the animals certain acetate salts.
The control of insects, particularly biting or burrowing insects such as stable flies, other types of flies, ticks, mosquitos, gnats, lice, chiggers, mites and the like, is a particularly important problem for both humans and domestic animals including horses, sheep, dogs, and cats. Particular concern is currently being directed to possible method of control for diseases, such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme Disease that are transmitted by ticks. Previous methods of repelling insects primarily centered on topical solutions or sprays that were necessarily applied over the whole body surface of the animal. Vinegar or tobacco juice have been added to feed for horses, in an attempt to diminish the fly population around horses.